I wondered what the opinion of the community's role-players is on the use of smileys/emoticons in the streets. Personally I don't think it's role-play at all, but some other role-players might disagree. I'm not a big role-player myself but I still don't consider a smiley as role-play. Personally I also think it's a bit lazy.

Example:

''Congratulations on getting auth. Cheers :)''

Instead of:

''Congratulations on getting auth.'' He winks and smiles broadly. ''Cheers.''

I don't think it shows anything but laziness and bad role-play standards. So, I'm hoping any (veteran) role-players will share their thoughts with us?

I honestly have no issue with people using smiley's. :) I mean, Aslong as they don't go overboard with it then we're good! :D It adds some emotion to the text in a simple way I think.. Although there are times where you just feel like ლ(ಥ Д ಥ )ლ when you see someone use a smiley in the wrong way and you just want to (ﾉಠдಠ)ﾉ︵┻━┻

Just grab your friends ༼ ºل͟º༼ ºل͟º(  ͡°  ͜ʖ  ͡°)ºل͟º ༽ºل͟º ༽ and :) and everything will be okay!

Okay, but in all honestl. If it's just once or twice to show the emotion connected to a line of text then it's fine by me.

Everyone has different standards of role-play which can be expressed in countless ways. I understand what you're trying to point out in your example, but as a reader, it's all the same to me. Both portray the same message so I don't mind it at all.

Although, if you're going to have a combination of a smile and wink, then you need to use ;) ha!

smiley faces and emjoi's have no place on a role playing forum. take a few more seconds and write out the details of the scene. most have forgotten, but this is a role playing game. it isn't for :D, ;), ect.
 

I do not mind smilies in mail. I even use them. Unless you're mailing me in character. Then I do not like them. But my humble opinion is that they do not belong in the streets at all. Nor do things like lol, lmao, roflcopter, lulz, omg, btdubs etc. The streets are, as they've recently been upgraded to say 100% role play. Anything that isn't part of that, has no part there. I have yet to read a book that says something to the effect of.... "They walked down the street hand in hand and he turned to her and :)." Nor would I ever read a book that would include that. As Aleksandr said, it's really laziness to do it in the streets. He laughed out loud at the thought. Or He fell on the floor, clutching his stomach as he laughed his ass off. Or With a smile he turned around and disappeared into the crowd. can replace any non-role play words or characters that you may want to use.

I use smileys in my profile or in OOC. But I role play it with smile and wink and laugh in the business district and in the streets. It's role playing and I think it helps better in laying out what you would want to share to your reader. And Cassi said it right, you won't see smileys or any emoticon when reading a book.

Wait, are we really comparing an online MMORPG forum to the formality of a book? I think that's a tad bit silly. It's like comparing watermelons to testicles. Not to mention the vast difference between the authors on here and professionals who write for a living.

I don't really see the problem :)

Ok, lets not go off on a tangent here. I never said anything about people on here not taking their writing seriously. I simply stated it's silly to compare the formality of a book to an online MMORPG forum. You make it seem like I have an issue with your opinion overall. It's your opinion, right? Just wanted to be sure. Again, you made a bad comparison and that's all I was pointing out.

And I wouldn't necessarily say the street forums is for serious writing. I like to believe it's there for all forms of expression as long as it's being done within the site's standards and guidelines. That's just my opio...testicles. I just wanted to say it one more time :|

Pardon my fukin straightforward ways: You more or less know hwo da fak spiks ta ya, so, if it says grats it says grats. If it says fu it says fu.

If u don't know what the person was saying, ask it in mm... Not that I am involved in that problem of yours. When I know a person, and I don't talk to, usually the maening is I'll faq u later or sooner...

I don't ever say "Oh that's a cute outfit smiley face!"

Well, no, because you'd just actually smile...

Saying that though, I agree with the original point. If it's supposedly in character, I find the use of smileys plain strange. If it's not, then game on, pepper them about everywhere if you so feel inclined.

The thing people fail to realize is our world is ever changing, in and outside of this thing of ours things will never stay the same. However, it seems that in this thing of ours people beg and scream for the same old thing and dislike most change. Including how we role play, and the fact of the matter is nothing will ever stay the same. We can look towards the modern authors and see this as well, books are not what they were 5 years ago, let alone a decade ago. Depending on who you are reading you will even catch these emojis in introductions, dedications and even the main story itself. This in itself shows the change in how people view all types of written works.

I personally have no issue with it, yes they could make :] into a string of words but really who cares. Both mean the same thing and depending on what you are reading and who your audience is on top of a slew of other variables a few emojis instead of more words could be the factor that keeps your reader reading or makes them turn and walk away. 

I would agree with you, Afghan, but we're supposed to ''read'' someone's actions and words, and I can't really read a smiley, emoticon or whatever you call it. I have never seen someone say :), but I have seen him laugh. My greatest fear is that when allow smileys, referring to ''game'' instead of ''our world'' and real life references because the world is every changing and ''it's just a small thing'' that we open the floodgates for more perversion of street standards, and I don't think anyone wants that.

I pray that the day will never come when (excessive) usage of smileys et cetera become normal forms of communication in the streets.

Pardon my fukin straightforward ways: You more or less know hwo da fak spiks ta ya, so, if it says grats it says grats. If it says fu it says fu.

If u don't know what the person was saying, ask it in mm... Not that I am involved in that problem of yours. When I know a person, and I don't talk to, usually the maening is I'll faq u later or sooner...

What an absolute embarrassment you are. Just stop, and go away.

Couldn't agree more with the post here Alexander.

Smiley faces in character should be done via text properly, not using emoticon or whatever the fuck we call these little things. It's a TEXT BASED Role Play game. The key is in the title. I get that the smiley is done using text, technically, but we all know its not what is meant.

It doesn't piss me off or anything, but it makes me think less of the person that did it. It shows not only laziness, but a lack of understanding of the streets and also a lack of care for our world.

in chat, irc mail i don't mind using smilies, but i generally prefer to set the seen a mind set or action as i have done here:

https://mafiareturns.com/comm/thread/625412#10547426

is not that hard and can add to the simple congrats, good luck, great decision even if have not much to say.

get out of that car, walk down the street, is not that hard instead of a smiley